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Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).The official account of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has been disputed by a number of conspiracy theories. It is widely accepted that on December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza fatally shot his mother, then 20 students and 6 staff members at the elementary school before committing suicide. Proponents of these conspiracy theories question the circumstances of the shooting with Adam Lanza as the sole perpetrator and are using early media reports that included inconsistencies about the identity of the shooter, wrong photos, incorrect location of victims, weapons used and other alleged misinformation as evidence for their claims. Others have suggested the shooting was orchestrated by government officials for political reasons, similar to some 9/11 conspiracy theories, claiming that the shooting was deliberately set up to push stricter gun control laws. There are also claims that Lanza was furious at the school due to the school-to-prison pipeline.

Media response to these conspiracy theories has generally described them as contradictory, implausible, without evidence, and offensive to those affected. The Washington Times ran an editorial critical of the conspiracy theories and a "conspiracy culture" in the United States that leads people to ignore difficult truths. Several sources also published articles debunking various claims put forward by conspiracy theorists.

United States government involvement

Some conspiracy theories have alleged that the shooting was a hoax and a false flag operation staged by the United States government. Others claim the attack is being used by politicians to push through new gun control legislation, or to otherwise persecute gun owners and survivalists.

Lawyer Orly Taitz was quoted as asking "Was Adam Lanza drugged and hypnotised by his handlers to make him into a killing machine as an excuse as the regime is itching to take all means of self defense from the populace before the economic collapse?"

Sofia Smallstorm's theory

Conspiracy theorist Sofia Smallstorm has directed and starred in the film Unraveling Sandy Hook (2013), in which she alleges that several details about the event remain questionable. She has capitalized upon the lack of a social security number issued to his name, as well as the lack of photographic evidence, the emotions of the parents during press interviews, and as several other anomalies as proof that the event was an attempt to see how people would react to Mass casualty events.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1yfJDCMU64

Israeli involvement and Iranian propaganda

Press TV, an Iranian state media network published an opinion article by Veterans Today editor Gordon Duff. He quoted Michael Harris, former Republican candidate for governor, who attributed the shooting to "Israeli death squads." The author speculated that the attacks were an act of "revenge" for the perceived cooling of Israel–United States relations under President Obama, especially as a response to Obama's decision to nominate former senator Chuck Hagel, a perceived critic of Israel, for the position of United States Secretary of Defense. The story, which relied on the testimony of an American politician associated with neo-Nazism, written by the editor of an anti-semitic American website was widely criticized in American media as Iranian propaganda.

Professor and philosopher of science James H. Fetzer further stated on the same program: “The Sandy Hook massacre appears to have been a psy op intended to strike fear in the hearts of Americans by the sheer brutality of the massacre, where the killing of children is a signature of terror ops conducted by agents of Israel.”

Several other conspiracy theories have suggested Israeli or Jewish involvement. These theories do not generally hold significant credence due to containing perceived elements of anti-semitism.

Additional conspirators

Ben Swann, a Cincinnati news anchor for Fox affiliate WXIX-TV, has suggested on his personal YouTube channel that Adam Lanza was accompanied by another shooter; he has made similar claims about the Aurora shooting and the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting from earlier in 2012. Other theories have posited as many as four shooters were present. Some such reports may have been influenced by early reporting of the events.

Relationship to LIBOR scandal

Other conspiracy theories have focused on the claim that Adam Lanza's father was an executive with GE Energy Financial Services. According to these theories, Lanza's father was supposed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee with information about the Libor scandal. However, no such hearings were scheduled. Similar claims had been made about the father of James Holmes, the suspected perpetrator of the 2012 Aurora shooting.

Timestamps of memorial sites

Theorists point to timestamps for creation dates, whois records, and Google caches of various memorial websites, fundraising sites, and Facebook as evidence of a conspiracy or cover up. They contend that pages were created before or after the date and time of the school shooting. Opponents of these theories counter that a more likely explanation is the possible unreliability of time-stamping and the possibility for timestamps to be assigned to URLs that are then repurposed.

Responses

Writing about the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, Benjamin Radford argued that most conspiracy theorists who allege contradictions in official accounts ignore contradictions in their own accounts, citing research from the University of Kent that conspiracy theorists selectively focus on or ignore particular details in order to fit their preferred narrative. The conspiracy theories have also been called evidence of "the need for a national debate on mental illness."

Internet debunk site Snopes ran an editorial debunking the "Sandy Hook Exposed" video, explaining how many of the theories make little sense, and answered many questions conspiracy theorists wanted answers to.

Harassments and allegations

Several parents and family members of the victims have said they have been harassed by conspiracy theorists. Lenny Pozner, the father of victim Noah Pozner, said, "My family and I had already been victimized. Items were stolen off our property and people were driving by our house taking pictures and posting them on the Internet along with their weird theories."

Robbie Parker, father of victim Emilie Parker, has been attacked by theorists who believe he is a "crisis actor".

Wolfgang Halbig, a former Florida State Trooper and school principal, and head of a website dedicated to the Sandy Hook truth movement called Sandy Hook Justice, visited Newtown on May 6, 2014, to ask the school board questions. However, he was met with mostly silence by the outraged school board and town officials at the meeting.

Gene Rosen, a Newtown resident who was reported to have sheltered six Sandy Hook students and a bus driver in his home during the shooting, has been subject to harassment online alleging he was complicit in a government coverup, among other things. Some journalists have cited such incidents as part of a "Sandy Hook Truther Movement" analogous to the 9/11 Truth movement. A writer for the Calgary Herald reported that the movement self-identifies as "Operation Terror."

Robbie Parker, the father of victim Emilie Parker – after doing a CNN interview on the day after the shooting – became the target of conspiracy theorists, who claimed the interview was staged.

Some conspiracy theorists have argued that a six-year-old victim of the shooting subsequently appeared in a photograph with President Barack Obama, but the depicted child is the victim's sister wearing her deceased sister's dress.

James Tracy, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who teaches a course on conspiracy theories, has suggested the shooting either did not actually occur or occurred very differently than accounted in mainstream reports, claiming political motives for the coverup. His allegations were strongly criticized by Patricia Llodra, a Newtown selectwoman. Additionally, Florida Atlantic president Mary Jane Saunders issued a statement that Tracy's views were "not shared by" the university. In response to his comments, the university has opened an investigation of Tracy, who has tenure. Chan Lowe of the Sun-Sentinel speculated that the comments were a publicity stunt by Tracy. Tracy later declined an appearance on CNN with Anderson Cooper, suggesting that Cooper wanted to bring him and his family members harm by identifying him in a prior broadcast.

While Tracy has since withdrawn some of his suggestions, conceding that real deaths occurred in the shooting, other sources have continued to claim that the entire event was a hoax. A video similarly questioning official accounts of the shooting received several million views on YouTube within a week of its posting, although the video has since been modified to display a disclaimer explaining that its creators "in no way claim this shooting never took place, or that people did not lose their lives."

Other conspiracy theorists have tried to connect the shooting to references in popular culture. These include the fact that Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins lives in Sandy Hook and in her book 22 children are "ritualistically" killed, and 20 children were killed in the shooting, as well as to the fact that "Sandy Hook" can be seen on a map in Dark Knight Rises. This is what some conspiracy theorists refer to as predictive programming.

The stolen sign case

In May 2014, 28-year-old Andrew David Truelove stole a memorial sign from playgrounds dedicated to victims Grace McDonnell and Chase Kowalski. He then went on to call the parents of Grace McDonnell, proclaiming that he stole the sign and that he believed their deaths were a "hoax". He was eventually arrested on May 30, where the signs were found in his home.

See also

• Gun politics in the United States
• List of conspiracy theories
• Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy theories
• Reaction to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

References

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• Conspiracy theories by subject
• Conspiracy theories involving Israel
• Conspiracy theories involving Jews
• Conspiracy theories in the United States
• Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting